By Cheryl Sullenger

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson has announced he will not appeal the Administrative Court ruling that cleared the way for the Department of Health and Senior Services to issues an abortion facility license to RHS Planned Parenthood, the last abortion facility in the state.

Parson cited an unwillingness of the DHSS to proceed after it reissued the license on June 25, 2020.

Lisa Cox, a DHSS representative, told the St. Louis Post Dispatch that she was “encouraged by the improvements in the quality of the care practices and procedures that have been made over the past year.”

“The DHSS comments are extremely naïve.  This is an abortion facility that has injured over 75 women, publicly lied about policies of the DHSS, obstructed Department investigations, and blatantly ignored regulations,” said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue.  “There is no reason to believe that these arrogant people won’t continue to disregard the law and patient care standards when it suits them as they have done for years.”

Last year, RHS Planned Parenthood failed a health inspection that resulted in 62 pages of deficiencies, including citations that mentioned four women who were subjected to botched abortions.

However, after the Administrative ruling was released on May 29, 2020, the facility finally passed a licensing inspection.  This was likely due to the fact that it has not been doing abortions, but has instead been sending all abortion patients to its clinic in Fairview Heights, Illinois, where abortion regulations are essentially non-existent.

One of the women mentioned in that 2019 deficiency report — Patient 2 — sued RHS Planned Parenthood for damages after she suffered three abortions for the same pregnancy, two of which were done by abortionist Justin Diedrich, a California abortionist who had been traveling to Missouri and other states to conduct abortions.

Diedrich is a product of the Fellowship in Family Planning, a program based at the UCSF Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health, which trains young medical residents to do abortions.  The Bixby Center is financed by heavy-hitters in the global abortion movement who support world-wide depopulation.

Information in the public court records obtained by Operation Rescue and in the 2019 deficiency report show clearly why RHS Planned Parenthood should have lost its license, and is likely to injure more women should it resume abortions.

Maureen Peal was 10 weeks, 2 days pregnant on May 26, 2018, when Justin Diedrich conducted a routine suction abortion on her without ultrasound guidance at RHS Planned Parenthood.

Medical records obtained by Peal indicated that a pathology examination found the abortion to be complete.

However, on June 29, 2018, Peal returned to RHS Planned Parenthood where she again saw Diedrich, who conducted an ultrasound on her.  Not only was her baby still present, but he or she had a strong heartbeat. Her growing baby’s gestational age was then into the second trimester at 15 weeks, one day. 

Diedrich conducted a second abortion on Peal – this time a riskier Dilation and Evacuation (D&E) dismemberment abortion — done under ultrasound guidance.  Again, she was assured that the abortion was complete.

Three days later, Peal was admitted to Barnes Jewish Hospital – ironically, home of the Fellowship in Family Planning program that trained Diedrich – where she was diagnosed with sepsis secondary to an infected uterus.

Peal underwent a third abortion by dilation and curettage (D&C) on July 2, 2018, most likely for retained fetal remains due to an incomplete abortion. Retained fetal remains is a common cause for infection in post-abortive women.

When the DHSS investigated Peal’s case, Diedrich refused to cooperate and declined to be interviewed.  He never provided an explanation for why his patient required three abortions.

RHS Planned Parenthood shifted the blame by opining that the pregnancy was originally twins. They suggested that one twin was missed because the patient was obese.  However, there was never any evidence that Peal’s pregnancy involved twins.

During the malpractice case, RHS Planned Parenthood attempted to absolve itself of responsibility, noting that Diedrich was an independent contractor and therefore not an employee of the abortion business.  Planned Parenthood argued it could not be held liable for any actions of its abortionist or be held responsible for botched abortions that took place at its facility.

On October 15, 2019 – two weeks before an Administrative hearing was to be held on RHS Planned Parenthood’s licensing dispute – both parties agreed to dismiss the malpractice case.  This action almost always means the parties have settled out of court to keep the terms of the settlement, including the amount of money paid out to the plaintiff, from becoming public record.

This case is revealing of several issues for which there has never really been a resolution:

  • RHS Planned Parenthood botched Peal’s abortion not once, but twice, requiring a third abortion and treatment for a dangerous infection. No reasonable explanation for this has ever been given.
  • Diedrich continues to work as an independent contractor for Planned Parenthood and is licensed in Illinois where he is available to conduct abortions at the Fairview Heights facility. RHS Planned Parenthood continues to assert that they are not responsible for botched abortions done in their facilities by independent contractors.
  • RHS Planned Parenthood never took responsibility for injuring Peal or any of the dozens of other women who were hospitalized due to abortion injuries or other complications at its facility.  Instead, staff members made excuses, or blamed the women for their problems, as they did by claiming Peal’s obesity was the cause of her incomplete abortions.

“We can be sure that if RHS Planned Parenthood resumes abortions in St. Louis, it will continue to put the lives and health of women at risk,” said Newman.  “Licensing this Planned Parenthood was a big mistake that will be paid for by women who will continue to be abused as they have been in the past.”

In fact, the same people that run the RHS Planned Parenthood are now across the river in Illinois and have continued to injure women there.

“I hope that Gov. Parson and the DHSS can find the will to somehow continue their fight to close the RHS Planned Parenthood,” said Newman.  “If they don’t, we can only expect more avoidable human tragedy there.”